The Effect of Bee Honey on the Proliferative Activity of Human B-and T-Lymphocytes and the Activity of Phagocytes

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Abstract
The effect of bee honey (BH) taken from Apis melifica on human peripheral blood lymphocytes and neutrophils was studied using lymphocyte blastogenic 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and quantitative nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) assays, respectively. Bee honey showed a mitogenic effect on both B- and T-lymphocytes. Stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at 0.1% BH, B-cells showed maximum stimulatory index (0.838 ± 0.14 relative to 0.521 ± 0.09). Stimulated by concanavalin A (Con A) or phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the presence of 0.2% BH, T-cells showed maximum stimulatory index of 0.820 ± 0.12 and 0.712 ± 0.09 compared to controls of 0.531 ± 0.07 and 0.648 ± 0.08, respectively. In addition, in the absence of classical mitogens, BH also stimulated B- and T-cells with stimulatory indices of 0.247 ± 0.03 and 0.34 ± 0.04, respectively. In the absence of LPS, maximum NBT uptake (fmol of formazan per phagocyte) by neutrophils was achieved at 0.2% BH (1.53 ± 0.23 compared to 1.29 ± 0.08) but no significant (p >0.05) effect of BH was found in the presence of LPS.